Grains of Sand
by minusxero
Summary: A collection of short stories throughout the series that happen in between, before, after, or during other events. Spoilers for all books.
1. Chapter 1: Fly Away

**Chapter 1: Fly Away**

Another session, and still no progress.

Korra allowed (who was she kidding? Relied on) Katara and Naga to lift her up off the floor and back into the wheelchair. As she was lowered into her seat, the girl groaned.

The _wheelchair_. The Avatar glared down at her prison, a metal and puke-green contraption that was her primary mode of transportation. It was absolutely ordinary and served its purpose well. It rolled. It allowed other people to move her from point A to point B. And she hated it.

She hated what it represented. It was a crutch. Training wheels. An open admission that says _I can't do it myself_. It kept her firmly on the ground and was a constant reminder that the ground was where she'd stay.

"What are you thinking about?" Katara ventured to ask. The waterbending master, graceful and muted in age, had taken to her seat in the corner of the healing hut. Korra remembered the stories she had heard about the woman who sat before her. Stories of a younger Katara. Full of fire, they had said. Anyone who dared to stand in the way of what she believed was right was verbally rebuked faster than a winged lemur could steal food.

Korra sighed. "I miss flying," she responded. "I think it was my favorite part of airbending. The freedom of it all was unmatched. You could go in any direction whenever you wanted. And here I am," the girl gestured, "tethered to the ground."

Katara nodded sagely. "A long time ago, Aang took me out on his glider." Korra hadn't heard this story before. She leaned forward with rapt attention. "It was my birthday. We had been going out for what, a few months?" The elder woman closed her eyes, as if to recall the memory. "He had brought me up onto the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. The view," she sighed, "was amazing. And then he asked if I trusted him."

"What did you say?" Korra inquired, her troubles temporarily forgotten.

There was a chuckle. "_Of course_, I said. And suddenly he had his glider out. _Alright then sweetie_, he replied. _I'm going to give you the sky_." Katara smiled at the memory. Korra cringed.

"Sweetie?!" Korra exclaimed, disgust evident in her face. She even stuck out her tongue a bit as if biting into a bad onion banana.

"Oh give it a break," Katara countered. "We were young. I had just turned fifteen. He was thirteen," the woman said with a wink, "give or take a hundred years." The Avatar snorted.

"Right. That's not creepy at all."

"You realize you're talking about yourself, right?"

Korra considered that for a moment, then waved it off. "Point taken. Continue."

"Now, I had flown before. At the Northern Air Temple, back during the war. And obviously sitting on Appa's back for the better part of a year. This was special though. This was _with_ Aang. Which, as far as I'm concerned, was the first time. So I was to fly with him." Katara took a sip of her tea to collect her thoughts. "The logistics of it all weren't really thought of beforehand. After a few minutes, we settled on me with top of the glider. I'd hold onto his waist with the glider between us. It was a nice arrangement. I was pretty proud of that one."

A howl slightly resembling a wolfbat emerged from Korra. "You player you," she said slyly.

Without acknowledging the comment, the waterbending master continued. "Aang hadn't realized how much different it'd be to pilot the glider with the extra weight. I didn't know this at the time. I thought he was just diving for dramatic effect. The speed was frightening yet exhilarating. We were probably five seconds away from becoming roadkill when he figured it out and got us _flying_." A huge smile broke onto Katara's wrinkled face. "It was the most beautiful sunset I'd ever seen."

Korra sighed dreamily. "And that was it?"

"Almost. When we got back to the wall, he apologized. I guess he thought I knew that he didn't have control. I may have given him a huge shove after that." She paused. "And a kiss."

There was a squeal from Korra. "Best present ever?"

"At the time," Katara nodded. "Turns out that was a last minute idea. He had completely forgotten my birthday and didn't know what to get me." Korra chuckled at that. Classic Aang. "Speaking of which," Katara said, standing up with a slight groan. "I have something for you."

"What?" asked Korra, confused. She watched Katara make her way to a room in the back of the hut, and disappear for a couple of moments. She returned with a worn red and gold cloth, folded with care. The golden emblem consisted of three diamond shapes arranged to face left, right, and down (or up? Korra couldn't make heads or tails of it). Katara placed it in Korra's hands and knelt to look the Avatar in the eyes.

"Happy birthday, Korra."

"Hap- what?" Korra looked at the cloth, bewildered. It was her birthday? When? She did a mental count in her head. "It _is_ my birthday. How did I forget?"

"Sometimes things pass you by without realizing it. You become focused on another task or fact entirely and everything else sneaks up on you."

Korra looked up from the cloth, tears in her eyes. "Thank you Katara," she said, voice wavering slightly. The moment passed, and she shook herself back into shape. "What is it?" she asked.

"That," Katara replied, "was Aang's headband."

The Avatar looked down and remembered a story. Aang had fought with Azula and Zuko and lost, nearly dying in the process. When he awoke, he and his friends had been forced to take up false identities since he was presumed dead. "This was from his time in the Fire Nation?"

Katara nodded. "Aang at the time was feeling horrible. He felt he had failed as the Avatar for not being able to fully activate his Avatar State. For choosing _that_ instead of me. It was a rough period for him, but he still kept on and attempted to find the best in people. To always see the bright side of things and others."

With a steady eye, Korra took in her waterbending teacher and healer's face. "There's a message here, isn't there?"

Getting back up, Katara replied, "There is always hope, Korra. You may feel like you're not moving forward, but you are. Even if a bit slowly." She stepped behind Korra and grabbed the handles of the wheelchair. "You may not be able to fly now," she said, "but just imagine how amazing it will feel when you _can_. After all the hard work you've put in. Won't it be great?"

Korra turned to look back at the woman helping her along. "I guess it will." She smiled. Then a pause. "Wait," she said. "I think this is the first time I've ever gotten a present from you for my birthday."

"Oh," Katara brushed idly, "I was never really a present person."

"Well, I appreciate it so much." Looking down, Korra looked at the headband. What it meant. What it could mean. She raised her head. "I think I can take it from here," she stated. Katara nodded and released her grip on the handles. "Thank you again," she said, as she wheeled off towards the main complex.

* * *

Later that night, Katara was settling into bed. She lay there for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly she groaned, and rose. The woman turned to look at the picture on her nightstand. It was a picture of her family from decades past. Bumi leaning back with a hand on a table, an easy grin and a mischievous glint in his eye. Kya standing on the table, too short to stand normally. Her hands were behind her back, her eyes wide. Tenzin, just a baby, tucked into Katara's arm. Aang with one hand on his wife's shoulder and the other on his eldest son's.

Nineteen years. Nineteen whole years since the last time she had heard his voice. Katara picked the photo up with teary eyes and gave it a kiss.

"I miss you sweetie," she said.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading! These will not be in any particular order and will range throughout the series, with a few possibly being pre-LOK but post-ATLA. I appreciate any feedback you may have, so shoot away!


	2. Chapter 2: Separate Ways

**Chapter 2: Separate Ways**

Tenzin had been following his girlfriend down the hall for several minutes now, trying to calm her down.

"Lin, please stop. If you could just look at the situation from my point of - oof!" The Airbender walked straight into Lin's now stationary body, and found himself on the ground.

The woman stood tall, her shoulders slightly sagged. She sighed and put her hand to the bridge of her nose. "I already _know_ your point of view, Ten. You want me to throw away my life's work and dreams so that you can play daddy."

"Well it sounds bad when you put it _that_ way," he replied, gathering himself onto his feet. "But you have to understand what this means to me. What this means to the _world_-"

"So I have to retire from the force and become your incubator?" Lin countered. "Do you know how much that hurts me? What this _job_ means to me?! I _have_ to succeed here. I have to do this for mom because my, my _sister_," she spat out in disgust, "caused her to leave. Surely you understand that."

"Understand?!" Tenzin exclaimed. "You don't get to tell me about family commitments as if I know nothing about it. My fath-"

Lin turned to the airbending master in disgust. "You think just because Aang was the _Avatar_ that your prob-"

"IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM BEING THE AVATAR AND YOU KNOW IT, LIN!" Tenzin screamed, his face red with fury. A door behind him slid open and a young woman peeked out. She looked from the Chief of the RCPD to Tenzin and quickly found her way back in her room, the door shut again. Tenzin took a breath. "Lin, I'm the _last Airbender_. I have a responsibility to Aan… my father. Dammit, to the entire _world_ to make sure I don't _remain_ the last Airbender. You think I want to settle down right now?! But I have no choice. I love you. You love me. We shouldn't even be _having_ this argument right now."

Tenzin found himself sitting back down on the floor of the hallway, tears forming in his eyes. Lin looked down at the man she loved, silently weeping. Weeping for the loss of his father. For the future of his race. For the weight of responsibility suddenly thrust onto his shoulders. For the woman he loved apparently not understanding what he was going through.

Without thinking, Lin was on her knees as well, and had the distraught man in her arms. He buried his face into the nape of her neck as she stroked the back of his head with her ungloved hand. They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes.

"I'm so alone," he whispered. "Bumi and Kya don't understand. They couldn't. But I had hoped that you maybe… that you would…" Tenzin trailed off, not able to find the words to complete the storm of thoughts racing through his head. Lin pulled away briefly to put her hands to the sides of her boyfriend's face. She stared into his eyes for a brief moment before pulling him into a kiss, wet and salty from the tears that stained his face.

"I love you," she murmured, unnaturally earnest in an odd turn. "But you have to see that… I don't have that in me." Lin lowered her head, eyes closed as if in deep thought. "I have the force. Who else is supposed to lead the metalbenders? I'm the only option. I have to uphold the family name and…" A pause. "I have to uphold the family name."

"You can take a break, can't you?" Tenzin replied. His eyes red from tears. "Just a year. That's all I ask. We can," he momentarily turned red, and it wasn't from anger or sadness. "We can, you know. And then you can go back to the force. You're a great Police Chief, but I just… I need this. Please."

"And there you go making this about you again."

"That's _not_ what I'm doing, Lin."

"Yes it is! You're rushing us because you have some mission from on high to-"

"Dammit Lin, it's not a mission, it's just a kid and-"

"_AND MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO HAVE KIDS!_" she screamed as she got up on her feet in a huff. Tenzin looked up at her, completely bewildered.

The seconds passed by like the ticking of a clock. Lin was breathing heavily, eyes slightly watering. Tenzin broke the silence. "Lin…"

Suddenly she was adjusting her uniform, avoiding eye contact with the Airbender. "I'm going to be late for my shift," Lin announced to the air directly to the left of Tenzin. "I'll see you tonight."

And she walked out. Out of the hallway, out of the temple. Off the island.

* * *

Lin got to the station without any trouble. The officers greeted her in very curt and subdued tones; they knew something was up. She was surly. Well, more surly than usual.

After checking on the status of a few felons they had jailed over the night, the Chief made her way to her office and closed the door with a slam. The officers nearest the door jumped in surprise. This was certainly not good.

The woman sat down at her desk, and sighed. Paperwork from the nightshift were haphazardly stacked at the corner. After a quick flip through, wherein she threw the papers back down in frustration, she silently metalbent the drawer to her right open. Inside her trembling hand found the envelope that had been delivered to her weeks prior. She reached in and pulled out the letter that had plagued her in nightmares since first reading. Out of some sick sense of punishment, she forced herself to read it again.

_Ms. Beifong,_

_With the tests concluded, we regret to inform you that you are unable to conceive. Grief counseling is avail-_

Lin Beifong, elbows on her desk, lowered her face into her open hands and sobbed.

* * *

**A/N: **I promise not all of these will be depressing as fuck, I swear! I have an entire outline of stories I want to tell, but my muse (which may or may not be currently depressed, sorry) implored that these be written. As always, feedback and comments are forever appreciated!


End file.
